one way drive trip to Dallas

[Southwest Dave]

Mather campground is lovely and it's not much of a walk to the rim to watch the sunrise. You were wise to book, it's very popular. Enjoy your trip.

[glc]

It's only an extra hour from Needles to Kingman, your lodging and food choices are much better. If you get out of the bay area before rush hour, you should be able to make it to Kingman at a halfway decent hour.

Take whatever works best for you to get to I-5, go south to Lost Hills and take CA-46 to CA-99 to CA-58 to I-40.

Consider taking AZ-66 out of Kingman to rejoin I-40 at Seligman, it takes one extra hour. This is one of the longest continuous stretches of historic Route 66 still in existence.

[AZBuck]

It's only an extra hour from Needles to Kingman...

Such thinking gets people killed every day on American highways. As has been pointed out by myself and others, there are several things working against you on your first day. You will be departing a major metropolitan area at rush hour on the Friday of a long national holiday (Traffic). You will be driving on non-Interstate, non-freeway roads (CA-58 from I-5 to Barstow) for roughly 150 miles of your first day's drive. You will have to negotiate the city streets of Bakersfield with all the traffic and all the stop lights that that entails. By the time you reach Needles, you will have already covered about 550 miles, which is about as much as we normally recommend. Under the aforementioned difficult conditions that will mean that you will have been behind the wheel for far more than eight hours plus whatever time you have spent stopping for gas, meals, and bathroom breaks (and hopefully an occasional short walk to keep you alert). If you entertain even the notion of continuing on to Kingman you will be setting up the possibility of trying to drive long past the point of being too tired to be safe. You will be assuming that you are better than those who drive long distances for a living and who are prohibited by law from trying such extended drives. And if you wait until you get to Needles to make the decision you are going to be forcing yourself to make that decision when your mental acuity is already compromised, and if you decide to go on to Kingman you are going to be committing to continuing on for another 60 miles with no chance to find decent lodging if you get tired on the way, and you will, especially if you've had short sleep the night before because you got up early to try to beat rush hour traffic out of the Bay Area.

I urge you to make the safe decision now, and make your lodging reservations in Needles and enjoy an 'early' evening of relaxation before trying to get some much needed sleep. Pushing on for another hour just for the chance at possibly better accommodations simply isn't worth it.

AZBuck

[glc]

All but 25 miles of CA-58 is freeway, that's out at the east end in the desert with only 1 traffic light at US-395, and you don't have to take any city streets in Bakersfield, CA-99 and CA-58 are freeways with a direct interchange. CA-46 is 25 miles of non-freeway, but it moves along very nicely except through Wasco, which really isn't that bad. Your only difficult driving may be getting from your point of origin to I-5 but living there I'm sure you are used to it.

With all due respect, I stand by my recommendation.

[Lifemagician]

... but it moves along very nicely except through Wasco, which really isn't that bad.

Having driven this route, it went very well, but that may not be the case on a holiday weekend.

Your only difficult driving may be getting from your point of origin to I-5 but living there I'm sure you are used to it.

Striking congestion here will not set you up well to follow the above route. I'd recommend you follow Buck's advice. Not worth risking the extra traffic/time on a holiday weekend.

Lifey

[sbollapa]

It's only an extra hour from Needles to Kingman, your lodging and food choices are much better. If you get out of the bay area before rush hour, you should be able to make it to Kingman at a halfway decent hour.

Take whatever works best for you to get to I-5, go south to Lost Hills and take CA-46 to CA-99 to CA-58 to I-40.

Consider taking AZ-66 out of Kingman to rejoin I-40 at Seligman, it takes one extra hour. This is one of the longest continuous stretches of historic Route 66 still in existence.

Thank you for suggesting AZ-66. I was thinking of driving 66 from Barstow to NewBerry springs.. AZ-66 seems to be much more lively based on google streetview.. Will add this to my drive itinerary.

[sbollapa]

Now that my plan is mostly finalized, Thanks to Gurus for their help, need suggestions from photography enthusiasts who drove this path to decide on the locations to stop.
Am into nature/landscape photography and interested to utilize the drive for my hobby.

I noted down few places based on mapwizard on this page but if anyone has any other suggestions or places. Do let me know.. Also, I don't want to take any long deviations from my route.

[glc]

If you are going to take 66 from Barstow through Amboy, then Needles definitely should be as far as you should try to get. I'd recommend it, stop in Amboy for a bit. No reason why you can't do both, they are both well maintained 65 mph roads.

[DonnaR57]

Photography: Tehachapi Loop.

A little further along CA-58, you'll pass through Boron. Some interesting things to photograph there, and there's also a cafe called 20 Mule Team Cafe. Some friends of mine stopped there to eat and said that the food was pretty good!


Donna

[Lifemagician]

Aiming to get from SF to Needles on a very busy holiday weekend, this member is not going to have time to stop and explore photo opportunities. If Kingman is the destination, there will barely be time to stop to eat.

Lifey